Alarm mechanism



' Aug. 10, 1943.

W. E. PROCTOR ALARM MECHANI SM Filed March 20, 1941 71627 ZwzaZP/acPatented Aug. 10, 1943 12,326,559 p I ALARM MECHANIS h v WiiliarnProcter, Baltimore, lt'lld. Q h "Applicationlliarch 2c, 1941, seam...324,386

8 claims; (Cl. 122 451 v This invention relates to alarm mechanisms andhas for its principal object the provision or a marine gauge boardalarm, the instruments of which are pneumatically controlled by thewater level in the boiler. l Q I A further objectof the presentinventionis to provide a pressure regulator in which the sampling pipeextends directly into the, boiler drum whereby the device is suited formarine installations. .5 f u I A still further object 'of theinvention'is to. devise a marine regulator governed by the water linein the boilerand suited to use' wherever the pressuresrun relatively high and thereis a rolling-of the support, bothof which cause condie tions under whichtheJ'rOrmalland regulator is quite unsatisfactory or even inoperative. fMarine regulators of thegeneral type illustrated herein dependv forsuccessful operation upon a'constant escape of steam or water from theboiler. It is one object of the present invention' to prevent the lossof this water and inso doing to save the appreciable'numbe'r of B. t.u.s in the water heretofore wasted. Likewise, while low and high waterand pressure have been'r'ecorded on gauge boards in the engine rooms ofships these control boards have been heretofore operated by anelectrical relay." In the present.

invention, the steam andjvzater pressure is conducted directly to thepressure gauge and to a pressure switch adjacent the .red, light or thewarning horn or both signals. Inthedrawing: I Figure 1 is a diagrammaticassembly view showingitheregulator connecting with an alarm mechanismand also with a feed water control valve.

Figure 2 is an'enlargeddetail of'the regulating 7 element.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the gauge board. In the drawing thenumeral It representsthe shell of a boiler drum having a normal waterline at H.

practice with this sharp distinction, however, that in the present casethe sampling pipe l2 extends into the drum or boiler, whereas in landpractice body of the valve preferably'below theshut off bit'of scale.The chainbe'rlil cominurncates'with- A sampling pipe. I ZeXtendsapproximately an inchbelow the normal water line as in land theinvariable custom is to have the sampling?- pipe outside of the drum,usually parallelto the gauge glass. The sampling pipe may be in'two ormore parts connected by the usual couplings and it preferably passesdirectly through thedry pipe illustrated as a circular cross-sectlonjust below;

the top of the boiler drum l0. 1 a

The lower end M of the sampling pipe is open' and in the side theremaybe a number of openings such'as' l5, usuallyone at the Water line andtwo above the water line, although in many cases I find that I mustspace the openings quite high above the water line because of theextreme changes in the level of the water on shipboard duetoj mantimestam s of which the rolling of the ship is but one. The samplingpipe extension [6 may be threaded'as at .l'l. into the connection l8iwhich'is required when it isheces sary to remove the. inlet orifice.lfiifor anypura pose as for examplewhen this'is .blockedqby' a the feedwater controlv'alv'e 2i and the instrument board 22 throughtheconnection 2,3;lwhile the connection 24 1eadsthrough the pipe 2 5'to.

theffilter tank or heater thus providing 'ajclosed circuit forthe waterand steam whichpassesthrough the valve. The" outer orifice 21 like theinlet orifice I9 is readily removable forreplace ment or cleaning. I

The pipe fisjleadingiromponnectionj 23 ca'r v ries, the. pressuredirectly to the feed water con trol valve 2! or other in'strumentalityas well as to the instrument board, being'separately'con nected with thecontrol valve 'pressur 'gaug'e '30 and the commercially obtainablepressure switches 3i and 32 operatingv respectivelyithe electric lamp33, preferably a warning red color,

and the siren or other [alarm mechanism 35I'to make an audible signalinicasethe visible signal; 33 is not immediately notejdgfor this purposevbe-' ingset .to respondt a greater variation from the normal waterlinelthan are the la'mp, controlling pressureswitches,jthat 'is, theswitch" 3! is set to act at one chosen. pressure and the pressure switch32 for the horn is'set to go into action at astilllower pressure.

, The operation of the apparatus has nothing to dofwith steam pressure,but is based solely oh'the fact'that the sampling pipe scums the surfaceof; the water, having a constant flow through it. The pressurein thedrum Ill would be 50 pounds.

Because of the small 1 orifice as a general rule; inthe plug IS, thepressure incham'ber 2iiwo'ul'd only be about one-fifth that great. Ifgbyany chance, the Water level"was.,very lowand .thef fluid passing throughthesampling pipewere'dry steam, this could about as readily flow outftherelatively larger orifice in, 2.7 as it couldfiow into thesmaller orifce "in i9; hence the pressureiini chamber 2 9 would be a, minimum.

If, however, "andit is-is usually case, V fluid'passing up thesamplingpipe'lfi is wet; the. friction" in passing through-the exit orifice plugv2! will be sufficiently great tobuild use very'lsubstantial,pressureiin the chamber Z2 6, about pounds forexampleTAs willreadilyfbei un erwh eiihe erhea se wa r 'pa'sse thru the orifice in. {9, the liquid; Will-evaporate; in part because of the much lower pressure in' chamber 29than in the drum I0.

quantity of constant flow isjreasonably smallfbecause of the tiny sizeofthe orifice in 19 which restricts the discharge from the high pressureThe total

